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Re: Healthcare

The United States is not the only nation wrestling with opioid addiction. It is, however, one of the few nations unwilling to do much about it, even though the word “opioid” is spread across newspaper headlines daily, and Americans are dying of overdose in droves.
In western Europe, which is no stranger to heroin, people view opioid addiction the way most Americans now look at AIDS — as a medical problem that requires chronic medical care using medication, public funding for treatment and compassionate support. In the U.S., however, leaders and policy makers for constituencies most drastically affected by opioids are slow to make the same leap.

AIDS was at first highly stigmatized. Yet a massive public health response that included the training of health care providers, subsidies for treatment, grassroots mobilizing to ensure that treatment was accessible and free, public-facing campaigns against stigma and misinformation, and the creation of a separate office of research within the National Institutes of Health all worked together to accelerate the development of a new treatment.

As a result of these efforts, AIDS was largely destigmatized and allowed to be treated alongside any other medical disorder.

Riding on the heels of the HIV/AIDS epidemic was the overprescribing of opioid painkillers, which helped to spearhead today’s ongoing crisis. Now, more than 20 years into the opioid epidemic, the number of Americans who die from opioid overdose every year is close to 50,000, neck and neck with the height of the AIDS epidemic.

Opioid addiction has high mortality rates because of the high risk of an overdose with each episode of use and the risk of developing serious medical and psychiatric problems, injuries and social issues. The rate of mortality in opioid addiction is six to seven times higher than in the general population, with death occurring in many users at a young age.

The kicker is that we have medication effective in treating opioid use disorder (OUD) and have had it for decades. The FDA approved methadone in 1972, buprenorphine in 2002 and extended-release naltrexone in 2010. Yet 80-90 percent of the 2.5 million Americans with OUD either do not know about the medication options, do not have proper access to them or do not know that they are their best chance at recovering from OUD.

If even 20 or 30 percent of health care providers were trained, supported and incentivized to treat people with OUD, our already well-established health care system could begin to help many more people and save lives — and money, as treatment with medication is far less expensive than the estimated $60,000 we pay per year, per person for those who continue to use. The French did it. So did the Australians. The United States can do it too.

Keeping effective medication away from people who need it is unethical. Declaring the epidemic a public health emergency and then stopping short of reforming the health care system is no better.

Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing. ~Arundhati Roy

Re: Healthcare

Last October, Bradley Sroka took his 1-year-old daughter, Margot, to the local emergency room. The little girl had managed to tie a piece of her own blonde hair around her toe, causing it to swell and turn purple.

The hair had left a clean circular cut around Margot’s toe, which spurted blood each time her parents tried to inspect it.

“We had no idea how deep the cut was, whether we could just wrap a Band-Aid around it,” Sroka says. “It was like nothing we’d ever encountered.”

Margot turned out to be fine — a physician assistant inspected her toe, made sure the hair was gone, and applied an antibacterial ointment.

A month later, the Sroka family got the bill: $937.25 for the 29-minute visit. They are responsible for the entire bill, which was within their deductible.

The Srokas’ bill is among many that fit a pattern: Worried parents took their children to the emergency room because their pediatrician’s office was closed, often on the weekends or at night. Some tried to go to urgent or immediate care facilities but were turned away because those offices often do not provide pediatric care.

When these little patients were treated in the ER, even for relatively basic medical care, their parents then received a big bill. Even families with insurance submitted bills that left them on the hook for hundreds or thousands of dollars, a burden for most typical American households, and doubly frustrating because the treatments weren’t complex.

These cases fit what experts describe as one of the defining features of the American health care system: exceptionally high prices for routine medical services that would typically cost much less in peer countries like Canada or France.

In January, Jessica Smart took her 7-year-old son, Kylan, to the emergency room for a severe ear infection. “I usually try to avoid the ER as much as possible,” Smart, 34 and a mother of four, says. “We went because there was blood in his ear and that is not normal.”

Smart estimates that they spent about 10 minutes with a doctor, who checked Kylan’s ears and gave him some ear drops as well as an oral antibiotic. The fees for those two generic drugs came to $1,075, a hospital representative told Smart — which was the bulk of the $1,375 bill. The Smarts are responsible for the entire payment, which falls within their health insurance deductible.

Re: Healthcare

Look at us, the "best" country in the world, once again paying the most of anyone in the world and we let drug companies do this because our politicians are bought and paid for.

An affordable hepatitis C treatment has been shown to be safe and effective, with very high cure rates for patients including hard-to-treat cases, in interim clinical trial results that offer hope to the 71 million people living with the disease worldwide.

The treatment is expected to cost $300 for 12 weeks, or $3.50 per day, in Malaysia, where trials were conducted along with Thailand – a fraction of the cost of other hepatitis C medicines produced by major drugmakers, which often run to tens of thousands of dollars.

Harvoni now costs about $48,000 for a 12-week course in Malaysia and $12,000 in Chile. Gilead’s previous Sovaldi treatment cost $1,000 a pill, or $84,000 over 12 weeks. Prices vary around the world and tend to be highest in the US.

Gilead has come under pressure from US rival AbbVie, which launched a new hepatitis C medicine, Mavyret, last year with a shorter, eight-week treatment course priced at $26,400.

Re: Healthcare

in the last six months, around once a week (or maybe once every two weeks) i get an email about someone in the district (teacher, admin, student, parent) who is raising money for someone's health care.

not once did this occur in my decade plus teaching in the UK.

Bring tea for the Tillerman; Steak for the son; Wine for the woman
who made the rain come; Seagulls sing your hearts away;
'Cause while the sinners sin, the children play ...

Re: Healthcare

Originally Posted by ajra21

in the last six months, around once a week (or maybe once every two weeks) i get an email about someone in the district (teacher, admin, student, parent) who is raising money for someone's health care.

not once did this occur in my decade plus teaching in the UK.

Yeah, it's sad. And pathetic.

I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.

Re: Healthcare

We had our benefits meeting at work yesterday...in order to keep our premiums the same, our deductible is going up by 20%, our out of pocket maximum is going up by about the same, and our co-insurance is going up by 50%. Co-pays stay the same, and now we can visit a walk in clinic for $125 (whereas before it was completely not covered).

On the bright side, as of May 1 they're introducing an employer-paid life insurance policy for all employees so that when I die because I couldn't afford to go to the hospital, my funeral will be paid for.

Re: Healthcare

Originally Posted by RYMASTER or Ryan_Yankees

We had our benefits meeting at work yesterday...in order to keep our premiums the same, our deductible is going up by 20%, our out of pocket maximum is going up by about the same, and our co-insurance is going up by 50%. Co-pays stay the same, and now we can visit a walk in clinic for $125 (whereas before it was completely not covered).

On the bright side, as of May 1 they're introducing an employer-paid life insurance policy for all employees so that when I die because I couldn't afford to go to the hospital, my funeral will be paid for.

That sucks. We went through something similar last year where I work. Are they at least offering HSAs?

Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing. ~Arundhati Roy

Re: Healthcare

For me the deducted increase annually is not the issue, it is the maximum out of pocket. Last year it was $3,900, this year $4,400 AND we got a big premium increase. While my employer (one of the major insurers) pocketed a nice Trump tax cut and laid hundreds off. Oh the good workers got a 2 percent raise. Keep voting GOP suckers.

Trading insults is a waste of time. Persuade why someone should see your point.

Re: Healthcare

Originally Posted by YankeePride1967

For me the deducted increase annually is not the issue, it is the maximum out of pocket. Last year it was $3,900, this year $4,400 AND we got a big premium increase. While my employer (one of the major insurers) pocketed a nice Trump tax cut and laid hundreds off. Oh the good workers got a 2 percent raise. Keep voting GOP suckers.

My deductible is now $3,000 and out of pocket is $7,300. This isn't choosing a lesser plan, it's the only plan available.

Re: Healthcare

Originally Posted by YankeePride1967

That is sick. Amd please don’t get sick. We have plans close to that but with my situation I had to choose the best option.

My previous employer had a low and high option and I went with the low. The premium was about $30 more a month but it was much better insurance. Unfortunately my current employer only has about 50 employees so their options are limited. It's insane that your health care, and possibly ability to live, is dependent on your employer's size.

Re: Healthcare

Originally Posted by RYMASTER or Ryan_Yankees

My previous employer had a low and high option and I went with the low. The premium was about $30 more a month but it was much better insurance. Unfortunately my current employer only has about 50 employees so their options are limited. It's insane that your health care, and possibly ability to live, is dependent on your employer's size.

it's nuts.

Bring tea for the Tillerman; Steak for the son; Wine for the woman
who made the rain come; Seagulls sing your hearts away;
'Cause while the sinners sin, the children play ...

Re: Healthcare

Originally Posted by RYMASTER or Ryan_Yankees

We had our benefits meeting at work yesterday...in order to keep our premiums the same, our deductible is going up by 20%, our out of pocket maximum is going up by about the same, and our co-insurance is going up by 50%. Co-pays stay the same, and now we can visit a walk in clinic for $125 (whereas before it was completely not covered).

On the bright side, as of May 1 they're introducing an employer-paid life insurance policy for all employees so that when I die because I couldn't afford to go to the hospital, my funeral will be paid for.

Think of how bad it would have been if the Democrats hadn't made it affordable for us back in 2010.

"But what people tend to forget...is that being a Yankee is as much about character as it is about performance; as much about who you are as what you do."
- President Barack Obama